QLD brew might surprise southern coffee snobs

Peter Thornton says:

07:22am | 08/09/09

This article reminds me of one of those sandwich board signs outside a cafe boasting ‘the best - insert naff consumable - inside’

I know people who collect beer coasters but couldn’t brew decent tasting beer if their life depended on it. Ditto kitchen appliances, exotic sports cars et al.

Adam Dennis says:

07:51am | 08/09/09

I’m sure that no Australian capital city has a mortgage on the best coffee. I’ve drunk crappy suds in Melbourne and Sydney more often than I’ve discovered liquid bean heaven. And I distinctly recall a lengthy conversation with a Brisbane restaurateur back in 1995, in which he spoke with incredible enthusiasm for his coffee and proceeded to show me the $3000 water filtration system he’d had installed to feed his machine. His investment and love for the brew paid off, too; I drank cup after cup of his awesome coffee.

I am thoroughly tired of manufactured competition between our capital cities. I think we can fairly say that there’s people doing good stuff all over. Now, can we move on to something really worth talking about?

Jo says:

07:57am | 08/09/09

After moving to Redcliffe, the sleepy peninsula just north of Brisvegas, from Randwick in Sydney, I figured I’d never drink a decent coffee again. Not so. We have our very own on-peninsula roaster, Neli Coffee who keeps us in our highly strung state with perfectly balanced blends, warmed (not scorched) milk and never a hint of bitterness.

Mr Pastry says:

08:05am | 08/09/09

It is sad but Melbourne really needs the “great coffee” tag.  Interstate friends would say “oh great coffee” trying to find something positive to say about the place after visits.  If you take this away, Brisbane, all that is left is some shops and the continual, tedious AFL droning.  Please think again let Melbourne have something.

Liz says:

09:19am | 08/09/09

So we’re all coffee snobs or just after a decent cup of coffee with some perfectly roasted beans and pulled by someone who knows what they’re doing,cleans their machine regularly and knows the right temperatures and tricks of the trade.It can happen anywhere just needs the dedication and encouraging customers.

iansand says:

10:33am | 08/09/09

Anyone who bases their assessment of the worthiness of a locale on the quality of the coffee should get out more.

stephen says:

10:36am | 08/09/09

Yeah@Liz . That’s why I like Starbucks. Done perfectly, and served with a hot vege. roll. Mmm.

Campos_Devotee says:

10:49am | 08/09/09

I’ve lived in all three capitals on the east coast. All have some great coffee shops, all have some terrible ones! Usually chains, thankfully these seem to be restrained to the city and shopping centres in Brisbane. One other possible explanation for Brisbane having a decent coffee culture, could be its proximity to the coffee growing area of Northern NSW. Zentvelds coffee from the tiny village of Newrybar is one of the most awarded growers in Australia… and the coffee they produce is pretty good too!

For the record I grew up in Northern NSW and currently reside in Brisbane, but have more experience of coffee drinking in the southern capitals.

Certainly agree with the comments that it is about time we stopped comparing, the cities on such superficial issues as fashion, coffee and physical beauty. They are all great cities with their own unique charms and some rather marvelous hang ups!

JB says:

02:01pm | 08/09/09

“John Ronchi, owner of Fortitude Valleys Campos Coffee, voted top café in Australia by the Lifestyle Channel’s public-voted I Love Food Awards is unconvinced. He says its a clear case of beans-envy.”

Ah come on now, you really want us to believe that people in Sydney are envious of people in Brisbane?? Or indeed, that NSW’men are envious of QLD’ers? AND OVER COFFEE!
Let’s just say we had the Bridge Climb first, and you can actually see stuff from the top of ours…
NB Reverse snobbery doesn’t make your product taste better.

AFR says:

02:18pm | 08/09/09

i’m with you iansand… its just coffee. sheesh.

Stefano says:

02:39pm | 08/09/09

@ AFR - a big ditto here.

Some years ago, I considered a little internet dating via RSVP. Naturally, I would read the blurb submitted by ladies as their profiles. I was always amazed by the number of women who would list, as a pastime, “having coffee”. How on Earth can drinking a small splash of coffee-flavoured hot water/milk etc be considered a pastime? This seemed to be up there in popularity with being “spiritual”. Or is it the same thing?

Sam Chowder says:

04:18pm | 08/09/09

I prefer tea

David Southwell's wife says:

04:51pm | 08/09/09

“Southwell and his Italio-Melbourne wife who’s “not a coffee snob (clearly not, David, if she frequents Starbucks) ...”

I do not frequent Starbucks. It does not say that in David’s article. This line is defamatory - it lowers my professional reputation in the eyes of right-thinking people, it identifies me sufficiently and the usual defences to defamation do not apply - it is neither the truth nor in the public interest. I think I deserve an apology at the very least, a massive sum of money for injury to my reputation at best….

David Southwell says:

05:45pm | 08/09/09

I am happy to try Campos, which admittedly was recommended to me by the Brisbane friend I mentioned in the article.

Unfortunately with us on foot it was a little out of the way when we were staying in the CBD. 

Mind you so desperate were we that we did try the blocks distant recommendation of the hotel desk clerk and were unimpressed.

Also happy to try the Sunshine Coast place, although as I mentioned we were staying on the Gold Coast.

From this I gather that while there may be an occasional oasis of good coffee in Queensland, these brewing bright spots are few and far between.

As for my wife frequenting Starbucks, well she has already refuted that.

I am at a loss to see where that comes from because my piece indicates the opposite. You might recall that the hotel desk clerk’s recommendation of Starbucks “did not play well”.

Fiona, maybe some better coffee would help your reading comprehension.

Helen says:

05:08am | 09/09/09

As a Tropical North Queenslander I have been blessed with Australia’s largest coffee growing region on my doorstep - Mareeba. Their beans are sent all over the world. It is easy to spend the day on the coffee trail with at least six farm gate roasteries within 1/2 hour of Mareeba (1 hour from Cairns). One of the ‘originals’ in the roasting business in Australia is The Coffee Works who have been roasting Australian and imported beans for over 20 years in Mareeba. If you’d like to try some beans their ‘roast and post’ service gets my mums fresh roasted beans to Brisbane overnight. They also have more than 2,000 coffee treasures presented for your enjoyment in the largest and most significant collection in the world! Google their on-line service if you’re interested.

Fiona Donnelly says:

07:14am | 09/09/09

Hi David and David Southwell’s Wife

I admit my eyes did glaze over reading your original post. And clearly I must have been dreaming to imagine that you would have actually tried Starbucks in Brisbane – given that you suggest it as the best alternative for Qlders, based on what was clearly (ahem)  an extensive and in depth research period of coffee drinking before writing off coffee across the whole state.

Fyi my post reads
Not only did Southwell curdle lattes locally by suggesting an unpalatable brew in Townsville could have been caused by the addition of fruit bat droppings or milk harvested from nursing cane toads.  He then went on to suggest that the best a tourist could find in Brisbane was a tepid fawn liquid he suspected was ash-rinsing water drained out of old fire-places dished up by Starbucks.

I believe this is fair and accurate - given your last line ``In Queensland, however, you might as well stick to Starbucks.’’

I am especially concerned that I appear to have hopped off on the wrong foot with your wife – particularly as she seems to have such a cracking sense of humor.

I apologise for thinking she might have accompanied you on your research to Starbucks.

And truly I had no idea that it could be construed as defamatory to be ‘not a coffee snob’ and to have visited Starbucks.

I’m guessing ‘my warm invitation’ to share a macchiato isn’t going to be accepted anytime soon?

Sam Chowder says:

09:33am | 09/09/09

I’m certainly glad I prefer tea, this holy grail of coffee quest seems a bit over the top for a warm beveridge.

fiona donnelly says:

10:49am | 09/09/09

Know what you mean Sam. I’m feeling in need of a Bex and a good lie down myself.

David Southwell says:

12:18pm | 09/09/09

Fiona, on the contrary, I would be happy to take up your warm invitation.

It’s true my research on the subject was not exhaustive but it was exhausting and it would be nice to finally get a good cup of coffee in Queensland.

BTW I think my wife was being tongue-in-cheek and theatrical. However we would still be willing to accept a massive sum of money, some of it I might even spend on a Queensland coffee trip.

fiona donnelly says:

01:38pm | 09/09/09

Excellent David - look forward to showing you (and the missus) some of the top spots next time you’re both in town btw *shameless plug* The Courier-Mail 2010 Food & WIne Guide launching in November for the third year will give anyone else heading North the goods on where to go and not just for coffee either. Well worth the $26.95 rrp!

Sandra says:

03:07pm | 09/09/09

In 1991 I moved from Fremantle—a town that had a cafe strip long before it was hip— to Maryborough in Queensland. (Yes, it was a culture shock.)After paying for an insipid cup of coffee at a local cafe, I asked the attendant “how do you make your coffee?” She proceded to explain how the frother works on their coffee machine. Spying the very shiny and clean filter-baskets I interrupted, “no, I mean how do you make the ‘actual coffee’—do you use those?” and I pointed at the forlorn and unworn filter baskets and ladles. “Oh no!” she said crisply as if I had suggested something incredibly insane, “we use this” and with cheerful enthusiasm she presented me with a jar of instant coffee from a well-known brand. It had “espresso” on the label.  Then, in the same year,  there was the “short black” I ordered on the Gold Coast; a filter coffee in a demitasse cup.

There is some marginal improvement in coffee in Brizneyland these days. Of course, one still has to order a double shot in order to get any real taste. Now if only one could dine after nine in the evening in this town…